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Forensics: Another black eye for cop crime labs. Top prosecutor in Mass. drug lab scandal to be disbarred, high court rules
Top prosecutor in Mass. drug lab scandal to be disbarred, high court rules – masslive.com
— Read on www.masslive.com/politics/2023/09/top-prosecutor-in-mass-drug-lab-scandal-to-be-disbarred-high-court-rules.html
Forensis: War crimes. Among the Dead: Forensic Scientists Recall Horror of Kosovo’s Mass Graves
The smell of decay and the trauma of exhuming children’s bodies from mass graves dominate the memories of forensic experts who worked in Kosovo, Bosnia and Serbia after the war, driven by a sense of justice and the desire to restore dignity to the victims.
— Read on balkaninsight.com/2023/08/30/among-the-dead-forensic-scientists-recall-horror-of-kosovos-mass-graves/
Alabama’s History of Botched Executions. Say Hello to AG Stevie Marshall
Forensics: Gastly form of execution using nitrogen gas. AG Steve Marshall is a ghoul. Alabama wants to be the 1st state to execute a prisoner by making him breathe only nitrogen | AP News
Alabama is seeking to become the first state to execute a prisoner by making him breathe pure nitrogen.
— Read on apnews.com/article/alabama-death-penalty-nitrogen-hypoxia-a6f414ff6147cbd38de6a8cd01f96653
Forensics: More details on How forensic investigators use DNA, fingerprints and other methods to identify remains after a fire | CNN
The facts are grim.
The devastating fires in Maui have caused at least 115 deaths, yet only 46 of those have been identified two weeks on from the blaze, police said Thursday. Hundreds of people remain unaccounted for, too.
— Read on www.cnn.com/2023/08/26/us/maui-fires-rapid-dna-identify/index.html
Forensics: Dental IDs from fire victims in Lahaina
The weeks of fragmentary information from Hawaii and news media has raised some concerns I want to mention. The hurdles to identification involved in this type of mass disaster are huge principally because of the high temperature effects on human remains. The number 1000 still missing continues to be mentioned. My experience with search for cremated remains began in 1993 during the Los Angeles riots initiated by the Ridney King police beating. Buildings burned to their foundations leaving tangles of structural beams and debris spread throughout the fire scenes. Our Coroner team was tasked to recover fire victims. What we found runs parallel to what has occurred in Lahaina. Exponentially worse in Hawaii. The recovery teams there are having to sift through the ashes and debris in hundreds of totally destroyed homes and businesses. This requires heavy equipment to remove burned structural components before visually inspecting all the residual ashed material. Then it all has to be sieved to recover fire splintered bone and teeth. This material is fragile and crumbly. The challenge is retrieving DNA. This is problematic due to extreme heat. The scope of this effort is huge. It is exhausting and often frustrating. I wish the community, first responders and recovery teams receive personal assistance counseling to add support in this tragic process. Aloha
Forensics: Civil Judges get it. But criminal courts still allow bitemarks. Junk Science in the Courtroom Keeps Coming Back – and Getting Swatted
There’s something about autism that invites scapegoating. The latest attack was on makers of Lexapro, the anti-depressant medication, when used during pregnancy. Six plaintiffs recruited three experts to testify to a supposed causal connection between the drug and their children’s affliction. The court rejected the expert testimony outright and dismissed the case. Three weeks
— Read on www.acsh.org/news/2023/08/24/junk-science-courtroom-keeps-coming-back-–-and-getting-swatted-17278
Forensics: Teeth are involved in Identifying fire victims through DNA analysis: A geneticist explains what forensics is learning from archaeology
Identifying fire victims through DNA analysis: A geneticist explains what forensics is learning from archaeology
— Read on phys.org/news/2023-08-victims-dna-analysis-geneticist-forensics.html
Posted in AAFS, DNA profiling, human identification, missing persons
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Forensics: Premature burial case in hospital morgue.
Awful story. Hospital defense is absurd.
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-news/maria-de-jesus-arroyo-gran-3383123
Posted in AAFS, premature burial
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